The Adventures of Tila The Wandering Kokiri
by Cralex
Summary: Tila is an adventurous Kokiri that has a fascination with magic and a taste for exploration. As seen by the Deku Tree, she also has a unique destiny that runs farther and darker than any other Kokiri.
1. Strands of Fate Prologue

Author's Note: Check my profile page for additional info about this story and/or the titular character. Rules that govern this story's universe can be found there, as can an explanation of its technical "crossover" status. Short version: Zelda story with occasional Kingdom Hearts influence. Author's Notes will be linked to in my profile rather than cluttering up the story. Thanks and enjoy. ;)

**Strands ****of ****Fate**

It was a cool and misty night in the small forest clearing that stood between the open fields of Hyrule and the infamous Lost Woods. Not a single person stood there, yet the clearing teemed with life, just as it always had, ever since the land was blessed by the Goddess Farore in mythical times. Small bugs and glowing wisps flew around everywhere, just as they had for all known time.

For almost as long, the Great Deku Tree had also existed, watching endlessly over the forest in silence. For it was no ordinary forest, it was a fountain from which the power of Farore continued to flow, enriching life everywhere. The forest also stood as a barrier, protecting Hyrule, chosen land of the Goddesses, from outsiders that would seek to threaten it and steal the Golden Power, hidden within.

The Great Deku Tree was the guardian spirit of the forest, growing tall and wide and seeing everything that happened within its boarders. He was wise and old beyond reckoning.

He was also lonely.

Although he lived in the shape of an immense tree, the Great Deku Tree was blessed with the heart of a father and had enormous capacity to protect, teach, and love. Apart from that, though, he knew that all things would pass someday, himself included. Yes, his long strand was growing shorter every year that drifted by. He would have a successor of course, but he worried that more would be needed.

He needed a legacy. Life that would continue to blossom and thrive long after he was gone.

With that, he began the spell, the spell that would pour some of his own life energy into the wandering forest spirits. As he did and as his children of the forest, the Kokiri, began to take on faint stirrings of life of their own, his second sight, his foresight saw strands of destiny branch out from each one, like so many beautiful trees. He saw them, like multi-colored threads, weave together to form a beautiful tapestry of greens, blues, and browns, the colors of the forest. They weren't all consistent colors, of course, they were just children, but the overall pattern was the same.

However, he soon noticed a difference. One strand broke free of the tapestry and flew off, mingling with others that were too far away to see clearly. As it did, he noticed that it had an odd silvery sheen to it, something that was present in the original tapestry yet was hidden by the strand's normal colors until he sought it out specifically. He had never seen anything like it before. It was something... unworldly. _This __one __shall __be__... __Different__,_ he concluded.

He continued watching the strand of destiny that would belong to one of his daughters when something else happened. Another strand from outside the tapestry flew in, taking the place of the one that had left and assuming its colors briefly before leaving again. In its absence, the patterns of the tapestry suddenly darkened and spun out of control, threatening to tear apart. Before that could happen, though, the two strands returned, one with a silvery sheen and another with a new lining of gold. Together, they joined together with one that had remained all along, one that now glowed a brilliant green, and wove a new pattern, one that restored order, balance, and beauty.

Almost as soon as they returned, the two were gone, and the Deku Tree caught a brief glimpse of another tapestry, one larger and more complex than the one he had been watching. This new tapestry was covered in ugly splotches of black and red, yet together the two strands flew towards it.

The Great Deku Tree lost sight of the larger tapestry then, but he knew that the two strands sought to bring order back to it as well. He could still make out the first strand, though, the one with the special silvery sheen. He watched as the thread of her destiny spun out far in front of her, weaving and dodging with others that were yet unknown to him and that he couldn't see. He watched as other colors crept into it. Not just forest colors anymore, but all colors shifted through the wayward strand as well. Whites, yellows, pinks, purples...

Oranges, reds...

Black.

The strand was now so far away they he couldn't see it anymore, even with the newborn Kokiri girl that it came from sleeping in the grass with her brothers and sisters mere steps away from him. He stared at her, loving them all yet knowing of the pain that she alone would face. Wondering if there was anything in his suddenly insufficient-seeming power that he could do to avert her destiny.

For the fate of this newborn daughter, he wept...


	2. Ups and Downs

**Ups ****and ****Downs**

In the bright midday sun, a boy walked out of the forest that lay on the Eastern boundary of the grassy plains of Hyrule Field. He was dressed in rugged forest boots and a green tunic, with a matching green floppy hat over his dark blond hair. He wore a short dagger and a sturdy wooden shield on his back. His eyes were blue and his ears, like those of most people in Hyrule, were sharply pointed.

Link walked out of the forest and into the bright sunshine that covered Hyrule Field. It was an awesome sight, to be in a place so vast and large, but it was bittersweet.

His whole day had been bittersweet.

On one hand, he had a fairy now. All Kokiri have fairies as partners and guides, but for some reason Link never had a fairy until this morning, when one had practically dragged him out of bed. Link was a strong boy, but the ridicule that came from not having a fairy had been difficult all the same. The Kokiri believed that a fairy represented half of a Kokiri's self, so a Kokiri without a fairy was like half a person. Thankfully, he had his friend Saria, who seemed to genuinely like him for who he was, regardless of if he had a fairy or not. Most of the other Kokiri were relatively friendly towards him, or respectful because he had proven himself in other ways. Mido, on the other hand, was neither friendly nor respectful, and he carried a lot of influence as the self-appointed Boss of the Kokiri.

Now, though, Link had another friend. A small light-blue fairy named Navi. They had already bonded and become trusted partners in tough circumstances, circumstances which composed the bad parts of the day.

The Great Deku Tree, the ancient guardian and father to all Kokiri, had called for Link to save him from a terrible curse. With all his courage, Link had delved into the depths of the tree and found it being consumed from the inside-out by monsters, led by the vile Queen Gohma at the very heart of the tree. With little more than a slingshot and a Kokiri Sword, the blade wielded by Kokiri in times of great need, Link slew Queen Gohma and bought the Great Deku Tree a few more minutes of life.

It was then that the Great Deku Tree told Link why he was cursed in the first place. Under the cover of darkness, an evil man from the desert had crept through Kokiri Forest. This was no ordinary man. He was a sorcerer, one that wielded dark magic that wasn't even phased by the Great Deku Tree's own power. The man demanded that the Great Deku Tree give him the Kokiri's Emerald, the Spiritual Stone of the forest. When the Great Deku Tree refused, the man struck him down, leaving him to die a slow and painful death.

Now, Link had the Kokiri's Emerald, and instructions to bring it to somebody that the Deku Tree had called the "Princess of Destiny." Before the Great Deku Tree died of his wounds, he told Link of the Triforce, the wish-granting essence of the three Goddesses that had created all of Hyrule in mythical times, and beseeched him to keep the evil man from the desert away from it at all costs.

Now the Great Deku Tree had died. Death, although a natural part of life, was almost unheard of among the Kokiri in their sheltered forest home. Certainly, nobody expected the Great Deku Tree to ever die. News of the Great Deku Tree's death was slow to spread, but Mido already knew about it, and would no doubt be telling the other Kokiri that Link was responsible. Link knew that Mido would most likely get the others to believe him, and he had a mission to do, so he left.

Leaving his home was hard enough, but it went against Kokiri beliefs too. Most Kokiri believe that any Kokiri that leaves forest will die. Coupled with a general sense of contentment, this looming threat was more than enough to keep most Kokiri home in the forest. Link was strange, though. He wondered sometimes if there was anything else out there. On top of that, he'd been having some strange dreams lately... In the end, he trusted that the Deku Tree's request would be one that was possible and, sure enough, he made it out of the forest safely.

Now, with adventure awaiting before him, Link had little to remind him of home other than an ocarina that Saria had given him as a memento.

Hyrule Field was huge, many times the size of Kokiri Forest. With no clear idea where to find the "Princess of Destiny", Link followed an old dirt path that led away from the forest. The path wound around a bit and was occasionally broken up by patches of grass, but overall it went North. As the path wound on and on, Link had time to let his life-changing day sink in. It was hard to believe that he was really walking around, farther from home than he had ever imagined. Mido probably expected him to come home with his tail between his legs by the end if the day, but Link was determined to prove him wrong. Besides, it wasn't all that bad outside.

Eventually, though, Link started to remember that he hadn't eaten at all that day. His hunger started to gnaw at him with each step, and it wasn't long before he was kicking himself for not packing more than a few seeds and nuts to eat. He looked around for edible plants, but Navi told him that she didn't see anything that was good to eat.

By dusk, Link's feet were dragging and his stomach was growling grumpily. Finally, he saw lights ahead and quickened his pace. It was some kind of fort! This one was made of stone, though, and was bigger than any fort he had ever seen one of his friends build at home. He realized with a start that it was the same fort from his dreams, the one where two people rode out on a white animal followed by a scary man on a black one!

Still... People clearly lived there, and where there are people, there's food!

He was almost there, when the bridge began to rise up towards the wall, trapping him outside!

"Wait! Let me in!" Link yelled.

Out of a window along the wall, a man's face appeared. When he spoke, he sounded incredibly bored.

"Sorry, kid. Can't let you in until morning. Rules, part of being an adult..."

"Aww, c'mon..."

But the drawbridge kept rising, coming to a rest against the wall. Link kicked a rock out of frustration and sat down on a low wall by the moat. Everything was quiet, except for the sounds of nocturnal insects. Link rested his head in the palms of his hands, not in the mood to find someplace to lie down yet.

Suddenly, there was a commotion. Link heard voices coming from somewhere above him, behind the wall.

"Dearie, oh dearie? Please come back?"

"No way! I'm leaving, and I'm not your dearie!"

"Come back! You'll catch a cold!"

"Make me!"

They sounded like girl's voices, except one was a lot lower than any girl Link had ever heard. Plus, it had a really strange accent that sounded like she was yelling through her nose. The low voice rose in panic, the higher one in triumph.

"No, don't go up there! You'll hurt yourself! Come to mama!"

"I don't need a mama! My dad's a-"

At this point, a small figure jumped up on the wall, silhouetted black against the moon. The girl glanced down just a moment and then threw down a small object to the ground next to Link, before diving down headfirst towards the moat.

"-TREEEEEEE!"

Splash! The girl landed in the cold water in moat.


End file.
